The Myths of Falling in Love
by ThatMormonGirl
Summary: Alex has been sent to help protect her life long friend Percy Jackson, who she happens to have loved forever, prove he's not the lightning theif
1. Chapter 1

||alex||  
I sat on the edge of the pool with Grover, watching Percy as he sat at the bottom of the pool, calm as I'd ever seen him. He always seemed so at home in the water. I looked over at Grover. "How long has he been in there?" He looked at his stopwatch and gave me a big grin.  
"Nine minutes, 42 seconds and counting."  
"Shouldn't we get him out? What if he-"  
"Alex, relax, Percy's got this. I mean, you know who he is. The water is where he belongs."  
"Well, the human part of him can still drown." I said, looking back into the water. Just then Percy stirred and looked up at Grover and me, smiling with his beautiful cyan blue eyes. I felt my face get warm as he went back into relaxation mode and continued to sit. It was another minute before I realized Grover was looking at me. "What?"  
"So, am I going to be invited to the wedding?" I punched Grover in the shoulder and pulled my knees into my chest.  
"Shut up."  
"He'll never know if you don't tell him Alex. He's a demi-god, not a psychic."  
"Very funny."  
"You can have little demi-god babies! They could have his freaky underwater ability and your whole sunlight, fire thing. It'll be great." I punched Grover as Percy came to the surface.  
"Grover! _Please_ shut up!"  
"Alexandra Kari Jackson, it has a nice ring to it-"  
"What are you two talking about?" Percy asked as he hopped out of the water.  
"Nothing." I lied. "Grover's just being an idiot, as usual." Percy smiled, god I loved his smile, it was one of those smiles that makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. He pulled himself up onto the side of the pool as I handed him a towel.  
"So, what did Grover do this time?" Percy asked. I felt heat snake up my neck as Grover and I looked at each other. We both then looked back at Percy and replied with a simple,  
"Nothing." Percy just laughed and stood up, drying himself off and looked at Grover.  
"How long was that?" Grover eyes god huge.  
"Ah man! I forgot to stop it, but probably a good eleven or twelve minutes. What do you think Alex?" I smirked at Percy.  
"Maybe ten." He smiled and flipped his towel at me, spraying me with water. "Very funny. Besides, I can stare into the sun for longer then you." I teased.  
"That is not a talent, that's stupid." Percy joked. I pretended to be hurt as he walked into the locker room. Grover just gave me a stupid grin again.  
"Maybe ten." He said, mocking me. I chuckled.  
"Shut up Grover." As we walked back out to the front of the school's pool to wait for Percy I zoned out, thinking about my dad. Grover must have seen my face drop just the slightest bit, because he tried to make me laugh.  
"So, you two sharing a room yet?"  
"Shut up Grover!" Grover glanced at his watch.  
"Well, I got to head home. I trust you can watch Percy until tomorrow?"  
"Yeah. See you Grover."  
"See you." Grover started to leave, but he stopped and turned back to me.  
"Alex," I looked up at him.  
"Yeah?"  
"If your dad was such a player, getting a hold of Percy shouldn't be a problem." He teased. And then he was gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts.  
I'm Alexandra, better known as Alex. Best friend/ half protector of Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and one of the many, _many_ children of Apollo, God of the sun. Thought all those Greek myths were just stories? Wrong. There are hundreds like Percy and I, although, none of us ever see our God parent. We're stuck with the mortal ones because of a law Zeus passed that forbid them from seeing us. I've never met my dad. He never really wanted me to begin with. A kid would cramp his style I guess. I never even knew who I was until after my mom died in a car accident when I was twelve. That's when I was sent away to Camp Half Blood, where they keep all us Demi-Gods, for a year. I was told that, since I'd known him all my life, I would help Grover in protecting Percy. Since my mom died Percy's mom let me live with them, although I paid my own rent and the only reason I got to stay with them was because Percy's mom and my own had been friends all their lives. I'd had a crush on Percy since I was nine, although we'd always only been friends, and he had no clue. I made sure of that.  
As I continued to space out Percy came out and tapped me on the shoulder. "What're you thinking about?" He asked, sitting down next to me. I let out a long sigh and took of my glasses, cleaning them on my sweatshirt.  
"Just, my dad." I bit my lip. "And how I wish I could talk to him just once." I pulled out the only thing I had from my dad, a small ancient Greek coin, with him on it of course, attached to a chain. Percy reached over and took the coin, holding it up to his eyes.  
"He sure had a thing for Apollo."  
"You have no idea." I muttered.  
"What?"  
"Nothing." I grabbed my backpack and hopped to my feet. "Let's go home."  
When we got back to the house we were greeted by Percy's dumb ass of a step dad. He growled at us as he grabbed another beer and flopped down on the couch. I went into my small room and tied my hair up into a high bun. I was almost done with my algebra homework when someone knocked on my door. "Come in." I said. Percy stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and sitting on my homework, grinning from ear to ear. "Can I help you Mr. Jackson?" His smile dropped as he leaned back against the wall.  
"Did your mom ever tell you not to say anything bad about him?" He asked.  
"Huh?" He looked at me with his brilliant eyes.  
"Your mom, did she ever tell you that you weren't allowed to say anything bad about your dad?"  
"We never talked about him." I admitted. "I don't even know what he looks like to be honest."  
"Well, considering you look nothing like your mom, I would assume a lot like you.  
"Yeah, she said that. Except he was blonde and had really curly hair. That I've heard. And he was "inhumanly beautiful." Gag me."  
"So, what else did she say about him? Percy asked.  
"Why?"  
"Because I'm just as curious as you are. I mean, I've known you forever, you met my dad before he left, but I've never met yours."  
"I don't remember meeting your dad."  
"Me neither." Percy said, his smile dropping even more. "I don't remember anything before he took off."  
"I'm sure he had some reason. At least he stuck around for a while. And your mom loves you as much as two parents."  
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP? THE GAME'S ON!" Percy's step dad hollered from the other room.  
"Which is why I don't understand why she stays with THAT IDIOT OF A STEP DAD." Percy said, yelling the last part into the other room.  
"You little… NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!" I grabbed Percy's wrist and lead him to the fire escape outside my window. This was an age old routine. We ran up to the top and Percy's step dad gave up the minute he got to the window. We chuckled and made faces at him, leaning over the side of the roof. He snarled at us, then got this sick smile on his face. "Alrighty then. Have a nice night on the roof! He said, locking the window from the inside. Percy and I ran back down, pretending to look worried as he laughed at us. When he left we rolled our eyes and climbed back up, pulling out the sleeping bags we hide up there for when this happens. As we laid down, looking at the sun set the sky on fire, I thought about my dad again. What I would give to just meet him _once_. Just to know the man that my mom was so in love with that she didn't even blame him when he left. She blamed herself for not being able to keep up with him. I let out a long sigh.  
"Why do you get so sad when you look at the sun? I mean, usually it kind of makes people happy." Percy teased. I chuckled, looking into the sky.  
"You know how, when you're in the water, you just feel like you're at home?" I asked.  
"Of course." Percy said. "For some reason, I think about my dad even more when I'm in the water."  
"That's how I feel when I'm in the sunlight. It makes me think of home, and my mom, and my dad."  
"Your mom was a great lady." Percy promised me.  
"I know, I just wished my dad had seen that too." I said, staring at the asphalt. We just talked until the moon was halfway in the sky before Percy asked me about Luke.  
"How's that guy you met while you were living with your grandma?" My grandma was my cover story for Camp Half Blood. Luke was the son of Hermes, and he spent the entire year I was there trying to convince me that Percy would never feel the same way I did for him. He, of course, was telling me this because he wanted to be with me, desperately. There was a long pause before I gave Percy a huge grin. " I'm going to bed, night." I said, pulling my sleeping bag over my head and rolling over so my back was to Percy. He grabbed my shoulder and rolled me back over.  
"Nice try. You've been tip toeing around mentioning him for over a year now. Is it because he did something about "being obsessive?"" I punched him softly.  
"You've been reading my diary again?"  
"How else am I going to learn Galician?"  
"Obsessive doesn't translate directly. What did I write?"  
"Ser tolo." He said, slaughtering the pronunciation.  
"That means 'being crazy' but close enough." I said. "Besides, you should get a translator or something and keep out of my diary."  
"Why do you write it in Galician of all languages?"  
"Because I thought no one would know what the hell it was." I said, "But now I'm going to have to find a new language, maybe Latin."  
"I saw my name a lot." Percy said, I felt my face get warm. "Most of the time next to either oblivious or idiot, or both." He smiled at me. "So, back to the crazy guy. Why your sudden change of heart?"  
"You would understand if you met him, I mean, he's nice…"  
"Isn't that what you girls are always saying that's the only thing you want? God you're impossible to please." I smiled.  
"If you'd let me finish, he's nice, and he likes me, but it's his reasoning for why I should be with him that's kind of iffy." We were both quiet for a while before Percy spoke again.  
"What does "Eu o amo" mean?" He asked.  
"Stop looking in my diary!"  
"I will if you tell me what that means, because it's all over the place in there." Percy said. I let out a long sigh.  
"It means I miss him." I usually talk about my dad in there, so, that's why it's in there so much.  
"Oh." Percy said, clearly disapointed. He smiled at me. "Well, sleep sounds pretty good right about now, so goodnight."  
"Goodnight." I rolled away from Percy and felt the world lift off my shoulders. One of my many talents is that I am actually the worlds best liar. But what Percy would never (hopefully) know is what "Eu o amo" really means,  
Is 'I love him'.


	2. Chapter 2

::Percy::  
I let out a long sigh as we walked through the old museum. For a field trip, this sure was a bust. Alex was having the time of her life, of course. She loves all this Greek mythology stuff. As we were walking by different statues of the twelve gods she stopped in front of one, her shoes were glues to the ground as she just stared. I walked up behind her.  
"Alex." I looked at her, her eyes were a million miles away. I grabbed her shoulder and she jumped.  
"Sorry." She said, pushing up her glasses and looking at the ground. I looked at the statue.  
"Who is that?" She turned back and smiled just the slightest bit.  
"Apollo."  
"How do you know that?" I asked. She pointed to the headstone at the bottom of the statue, the letters jumbled around for a moment, and then I saw it, spelled out in perfect English, "Apollo, God of the Sun". I looked over at Alex, just like me, she suffered from dyslexia and couldn't read things, but it didn't stop her from trying all the time. She always had her nose in a book, trying to force herself to understand it. I looked at her.  
"You can read that?" I asked. She nodded, then her face dropped.  
"You can too?" She whispered, a smile lighting up her face.  
"Percy! Alex!" Our substitute hollered. We sighed and walked back to the rest of the group as Mr. Brunner talked about the tree main gods in Olympus, Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. As he started to talk I slowly slipped in my headphones, but, of course, he called on me.  
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked. Alex smiled, but covered her mouth when the sub glared at her.  
"What is the proper name for someone who is half god and half human?" I looked quickly over to Alex who mouthed 'demi'.  
"Demi-God." I answered.  
"Yes, there are many famous Demi-Gods, such as Hercules, Achilles," Mr. Brunner looked back at me, "Can you name another?" After seeing the blank look on my face he smiled. "I'll give you a hint, you have something in common." I looked up past him to a picture. Just like before with Alex the words mixed around until I could read them, it spelled 'Perseus'  
"Percy…" I looked back up at Mr. Brunner. "Perseus." He smiled.  
"Very good." As he continued to drone on about gods I looked over at Alex, who was looking at the statue of Apollo again, I saw Rick, a hot shot in our class, talking to her.  
Why did that make me angry?  
Before I could go over and tell him to get lost I felt nails in my shoulder. I turned to see the substitute glaring at me.  
"We need to talk." She snarled. I shrugged as she ushered me into another room and shut the door. I laced my hands behind my head.  
"So did I do something wrong or-" I turned, but she was nowhere to be found. I spun around. "Hello?"  
"Where is the lightning bolt?" I turned around to see her standing on top of a window washer's ladder or something.  
"Whoa." I said, freaked out. "How did you..?" Then she just exploded into this monster thing and flew at me.  
"What the fu-" She grabbed me by the shoulder blades, flying me a good thrity feet off the ground and squawked in my face.  
"WHERE IS THE LIGHTNING BOLT? I KNOW YOU STOLE IT!"  
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" I promised.  
"Tell me or I'LL EAT OUT YOUR HEART!" She screamed again.  
"PERCY!" I looked down to see Alex, Grover and Mr. Brunner right on her heels.  
"Let him go! Or I'll rip you to pieces!" Mr. Brunner declared. It looked at him for a while, then let go, sending me towards the floor.  
"Percy!" I felt myself land on something soft and opened my eyes to see myself on the ground, Alex underneath me. Her glasses were on the floor, shattered into a thousand pieces. She blushed, then unceremoniously jumped up and dropped me on my ass. She ran over to Mr. Brunner and Grover who were whispering and muttering.  
"What the Hell was that?" I demanded. Pointing to the window where that thing had flown out after dropping me.  
"A Harpy." Alex informed me. "How did one get by us?" She muttered to Grover. I jumped up and scooped up what was left of Alex's glasses.  
"Sorry Al-" I stopped when she looked at me. Her eyes were the most brilliant color of gold I'd ever seen. They sparkled and glimmered so much that I couldn't stop staring. I didn't even feel myself moving as I walked towards her, all I wanted to do was kiss her over and over and never stop for the rest of my life. Alex's face went red before she saw what was in my hand and she looked panicked, he hand flew up to her eyes and she shaded them from me. The minute I couldn't see them anymore I stopped dead in my tracks. What was that? Grover looked at Alex and bit his lip.  
"Crap. Chiron, we got a problem."  
"What is-" He looked up at Alex. "Oh no. Alex, do you have your back ups with you?"  
"They're in my backpack but…" She refused to look at me, staring at the wall. "They're out there, I dropped it when I heard Percy."  
"Grover, go get them, hurry." As Grover ran out the door I turned back to Alex. She was hunched over, covering her eyes.  
"Alex…"  
"Don't look at me." She warned. I looked at Mr. Brunner.  
"Why did her eyes change?" Alex looked at him and I saw a sliver of the gold again, it was like looking into the sun as I started towards her again, entranced. Before either of them could answer Grover burst in with Alex's backpack and they dug through it until Alex pulled out an identical pair of glasses and slipped them on. She looked at Grover, her back still to me.  
"Is it better?"  
"Yep, we're good." Alex looked back at me and her eyes were deep brown again. I felt like my mind was spinning out of control.  
"What is going on?" I demanded. Mr. Brunner rolled his wheelchair up to me.  
"Percy, take this, it's a very powerful weapon, only use it in a dire emergency." He held a ballpoint pen out to me. I stared at him for a long time.  
"This is a pen. This is a _pen_. What's going on? What was that thing? Why did Alex's eyes change?" Mr. Brunner looked at Grover and Alex again.  
"I trust you two can get him home?" They both nodded and Alex came over and grabbed my shoulder, leading me out the door.  
"What's going-"  
"No time." Alex said as we ran outside as fast as Grover's crutches could carry him. Grover looked over at me.  
"Don't trust _anyone_, do you understand me?"  
"What?"  
"_do you understand me?_" He repeated. I had never seen Grover like this before as they ran me home.  
"Don't look at anybody don't talk to anybody." Alex warned.  
"Why did Mr. Brunner ask you to protect me?" I asked. Alex sighed.  
"Because I'm your protector and she's your assistant protector." Grover answered.  
"You're kidding me, you're my protectors?" Alex and Grover both stopped looking insulted.  
"Do you think we can't protect you?" Alex demanded, arms crossed.  
"Maybe you're not seeing what I'm seeing. He has crutches, if your glasses come off you go into freak out mode and your eyes turn gold for some reason!"  
"We would lay down our lives to protect you." Grover said.  
"What's going on? What's happening?" Instead of answering me Alex looked at Grover, then at me.  
"We have to warn your mom, come on."  
As we ran inside Gabe was sitting on his ass, as usual, yelling for my mom to bring him more beer. As she walked up I ran over to her. "Mom, we need to talk."  
"Can't you see your mother is servicing me and my friends?" Gabe growled.  
"Don't talk about my mom like that you bald headed freak!" Gabe lunged at me then all I saw was a roundhouse kick send him flying into the wall. As he groaned I looked over at Alex, who was setting her foot back on the floor and grinning slightly. As Gabe started to get back up Grover smashed him in the face with his crutch. I looked at Alex and Grover. "How..?"  
"That's what we meant by protectors." Alex said.  
"Sally, we need to get Percy out of here, now." Grover told my mom, she got this weird look in her eyes and grabbed the car keys as Alex led me out the door. When we were in the car I had had enough.  
"Okay, what is happening? I didn't steal anything, I swear."  
"We believe you Percy." Alex said, but then she looked at Grover, who scowled. "_I_ believe you."  
"Where are you taking me?"  
"A very special camp." My mom answered.  
"Special? Am I crazy or something?"  
"No dear, this, this is about your father." She said. I felt my blood boil at just the thought of my dad. This would be his fault. He already abandoned us, now what? I was getting blamed for his crimes too? My mom started to tell me about my dad, about how great he was, for what seemed like forever as the sun set and we got into what looked like Virginia. I noticed the more my mom went on about my dad, the more uncomfortable Alex seemed. "…He was dazzling. We were really in love, and then you came along and everything was perfect. Then he had to leave."  
"So he did abandon us."  
"No, he had to leave, he loved you. Leaving you was probably the most difficult thing he ever did." I still felt like I would knock my dad's lights out if I ever did meet him, but I didn't want to talk about it anymore, so I shut up and started out the window as we kept driving. But there was something I had to know.  
"Why did he have to leave?"  
"Because he was-" Before my mom could finish Alex screamed and Grover shouted,  
"Sally watch out!" Suddenly a flying cow knocked into the car, sending us rolling until the car was upside down.  
"Percy, are you alright?" I heard Alex ask.  
"Yeah, are you?"  
"I'll live."  
"Mom, Grover?"  
"We're fine." Grover answered. Then I heard him take in a deep breath. "Oh no."  
"What?" I asked. Grover crawled over to Alex and I turned around to see sheer pain on her face as she grabbed her ribs. "Alex!"  
I tried to crawl back but before I could Alex's eyes got huge.  
"Grover!" She screamed. He saw something too and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He started to take of his pants.  
"What the hell are you doing?" I hollered. Grover looked at me as I saw he had what looked like donkey legs.  
"I'm doing my job."  
"You're half donkey?"  
"Half goat." Then he kicked out the windshield and helped my mom and I through it first. Then as he shoved Alex out the make shift door I heard her groan in pain. I grabbed her hand and felt something wet and warm. In the moonlight I could see blood on my hand.  
"You're hurt-" I started.  
"No time! Go!" as she halfheartedly shoved me I saw what she and Grover must have seen, a giant monster running right towards us. Grover led us over a fence as I heard something roar and looked back to see what looked like a giant bull throw the car at us. "Run faster!" Alex screamed as she pushed my mom ahead of her. We ran through the woods for what seemed like forever, I noticed Alex could barely keep up I started to slow down to help her but she shoved me. "Leave me! Go!"  
"I'm not going to leave you!"  
"You're more important! You're the chosen one, now go!" We continued to run until we saw an entrance that was lit by torches. The letter switched around again until I could read 'Camp Half Blood'. As Grover and I ran through the gateway, my mom stopped.  
"Mom come on!"  
"I can't, I'm not like you Percy.  
"I'm not going to leave you!"  
"You have to!" I heard Alex holler as she caught up. She looked at me, her brown eyes were so intense that I felt like my stomach was on fire. "I'll protect her Percy." Grover ran up to her.  
"You can't stop that thing." He warned. "You're already hurt, it'll kill you." She swallowed and I could see the fear in her eyes as she looked at me.  
"I know. But I made a vow that I would protect Percy, and that means her too." Alex looked back at me. "Percy, I want you to know something, I lo-" before she could finish something grabbed her and I heard her scream in pain. Then she got that look in her eyes again.  
"Run Sally! Hurry!" Then she grabbed a knife and stabbed the bull monster in the hand and he dropped her on the ground, grabbing its hand and roaring as it picked her up and began to beat her against a tree. Then it pinned her and threw her against a rock. She screamed and I could see blood running down her face .Then the bull turned around grabbed my mom. I couldn't take this. I ran back out.  
"ALEX! MOM!"  
"Percy, go! You're safe inside the gate!" She looked back into my eyes. "Please." Alex begged, then she passed out cold. I turned to Grover.  
"What do I do?"  
"Click the pen the Brunner gave you!"  
"Huh?"  
"The pen! Click the pen!" I grabbed the pen and clicked it as a sword unfolded into my hand. The monster then squeezed my mom and she exploded into gold dust. All I saw was red as I lunged at the monster. It knocked me into a tree without much trouble, throwing the sword from my hand. I staggered back up as it ran at me. I ducked behind the tree and it ran into the trunk. Its horn breaking off. I couldn't get my sword so I pulled the broken horn out of the tree and stabbed it in the heart. It staggered, then fell down, dead. I looked over at Alex. I limped over and picked her up, getting blood all over my shirt. I staggered, Alex limp in my arms, into the gateway and collapsed.


	3. Chapter 3

||alex||  
The first thing I heard was a voice, it sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. Was I dead? Did I hear my father? I opened my eyes as the bright sunlight faded in. I saw bright blue eyes and felt my heart jump. Percy, where was Percy? I tried to sit up but felt pain rip through my side. I opened my eyes and saw that the eyes belonged to Luke. I quickly slipped on my glasses.  
"Where's Percy?" I demanded.  
"Nice to see you too." He teased, grinning from ear to ear. I didn't appreciate his joking, in fact, his happiness made me even more nervous.  
"_where is he?_" I growled. Luke put his hands up.  
"He's fine. Killed the Minotaur and dragged you inside the gates before he collapsed."  
"And his mom?" Luke shook his head.  
"She didn't make it." I felt my heart fall into my stomach.  
"I should have saved her, I should have stopped it-" I felt my eyes sting with tears and rubbed them away furiously with the palm of my hand. Luke grabbed my hand.  
"You did everything you could. You were hurt and you were willing to give your own life so Percy's mom could have a chance to escape." He kissed my knuckles and I pulled my hand away. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Still holding out for water boy?" He said.  
"Where is he?" I said, staggering to my feel, ignoring my body's immense protest. I felt cold before I looked down and realized that all I was wearing was my bra, jeans, and bandages that were wrapped around my ribs. I grabbed the blanket that I been covered in and wrapped it around me; my face bright red as I grabbed a shirt that had been laid out for me and threw it on. But the moment I lifted up my arm my body had enough and I collapsed to my knees in pain, Luke caught me in his arms and I saw the concern on his face.  
"Take it easy."  
"What happened to me?"  
"You had shards of glass stuck in your side that were hammered in even more when you were running, eventually puncturing your lung, and the rock gave you three broken ribs and a concussion. The medics saved you, but your ribs are still healing, hence the pain."  
"I have to see Percy."  
"Of course you do." Luke muttered under his breath. Luke helped my two my feet, putting the arm on my good side over his shoulder. He wanted to carry me but I'd said no way. As we staggered through the camp I saw Percy. I went to call out, but then I saw the look on his face. He was staring at someone, totally entranced. I felt my heart shatter as I saw Annabeth practicing, no, not practicing, showing off.  
As usual.  
As I was about to call out to Percy Chiron, Mr. Brunner, who was now in full centaur form hollered for everyone to fall in. He looked at all of us, then at Percy. "Percy, will you please step forward." Percy stepped up and looked into the crowd. I waved weakly and he smiled. "This." Chiron started in his booming voice. "Is Percy Jackson." I heard people around my snicker and promptly kicked one guy in the shin. "And he is going to need a team." Chiron finished. Luke smiled and looked over at me.  
"Let's see how good your little boyfriend is." He muttered before turning to Chiron "We'll take him." He called out. He slowly let go of me, leaning me on someone else, and walked towards Percy. "I'm Luke." He said, introducing himself. "Son of Hermes and camp leader. Not necessarily in that order." He joked. "Where's your helmet?"  
"No one gave me one." Percy told him. Luke sighed.  
"Chiron, you still got your wheelchair? The kids going to need it." I felt my blood boil. When I got my hands on him… I took one step and my side screamed at me, so I had to stop and let Luke keep roasting Percy. "You're a goner man." I saw Percy face fall, then Luke grinned. "I'm messing with you, smile a little bit, it's good for you kid. Anybody got an extra helmet? Please pass it up."I looked at Percy and tried to figure out who he was staring at as a helmet was passed forward towards Luke. Luke handed Percy a helmet but I didn't hear him as I finally saw who Percy was staring at, it was Annabeth.  
I don't want to say I _hate_ Annabeth, but if I could throw one person into the depths of Hades to suffer an eternity of misery for the rest of time itself, it'd be her.  
"ALRIGHT!" Chiron hollered. "Everyone in position for capture the flag. Dismissed." As everyone filed out I stumbled up to Chiron.  
"I'm assuming I don't get to play." I joked.  
"You shouldn't even be standing right now. You need to rest and heal yourself."  
"Chiron, I'm fine."  
"No, you're not. We almost lost you to Hades himself."  
"Can I at least watch?" I pleaded. Chiron sighed.  
"Fine, but tomorrow you're not going anywhere until we get your ribs fully healed." I smiled as Grover walked over and helped me through the woods with Chiron. I slowed them down, so by the time we got there Percy and Annabeth were fighting for the red banner.  
Well, Annabeth was fighting, Percy was getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter, this, of course, might have had a little to do with the fact he'd just woken up from a three day coma and had no idea how to fight. Meanwhile Annabeth was showing off for the others as both teams gathered to watch them fight.  
Have I mention that I dislike Annabeth quite strongly?  
As she was slicing him up like a Christmas ham all I wanted to do was go down there and kick her ass, but of course, when I started for her Chiron reached out and stopped me. "She's killing him! I couldn't protect him once, don't make me do it again."  
"You'll stay right here." He looked at Grover who was trying to sneak down to help. "_both_ of you." I stared back down, feeling helpless.  
"Stand up and fight." She snarled. "Hero."  
"Chiron this isn't fair-"  
"Life's not fair Alex. Percy needs to fight his own battles."  
"But-"  
"No buts." As Percy fell to his knees Annabeth kicked him in the back, knocking him face first into the rocks.  
"I am going to kill her." I muttered. As Percy laid there on the ground I felt sick that I couldn't help him. "C'mon Percy, c'mon Percy please." I begged. "Kick her a-" Chiron glared at me. "Butt." As Annabeth was showing off to her team, Percy started to crawl towards the water. As he stuck in his hand I watched as the water healed him and he leapt to his feet with strength I had never seen before. He walked towards Annabeth and the entire red team, taking out guys left and right. "Yes!" I cheered quietly. When Percy finally got to Annabeth he countered every move and started beating on her. And then she lunged and Percy grabbed her sword, pointing the blade straight at her throat. I saw Luke with a huge grin on his face standing with the rest of the blue team.  
As Percy strode towards the flag the other red team fighters parted until he picked up the flag in victory.  
After the red team let him leave I stood there, smiling with Grover and Chiron. Percy had a huge grin on his face.  
"Did you guys see that?" He asked. I smiled as Luke bounded over, slinging his arm around Percy.  
"Alex, we could have used those eyes of yours." Luke teased. I smiled.  
"I thought about it when Annabeth was beating up on you, Percy." Luke smiled at me for a long time, there was something in his eyes, but I couldn't figure out what it was before it was gone.  
"I'll see you at the banquet tonight Percy." Luke said finally. He nodded at me. "Alex, take care of those ribs, alright?"  
"I will." Grover smiled.  
"Hey Chiron, can I talk to you about something?" He said, leading him away so it was just Percy and I. Percy smiled and grabbed me in a massive hug.  
"I thought you were dead." He said. "Grover said you almost didn't make it."  
"I'm sorry Percy, I couldn't save her-" Percy pulled back and looked at me with his beautiful eyes.  
"I have to show you something, c'mon." I started to walk but Percy just swung me up into his arms. He walked me down to the house his dad had made for him on the lake. He carried me to the dock and set me down so my feet were dangling in the water. "Now, where are you still hurt?" He asked.  
"My ribs, but I'll be fine Percy-"  
"Fine isn't good enough." He said. He stuck his hand in the water and grabbed my wrist with his other hand. I watched with awe as the water snaked up him and went down my neck to my ribs and going in my skin. I felt as all the pain faded away until I could move my arm with no pain whatsoever. I looked at Percy and smiled, wrapping him in a huge hug.  
"We better get ready for the dinner." I started to stand, but Percy held my wrist even tighter and I sat back down.  
"First things first, Grover wouldn't tell me a thing about you, so it's questions and answers time." I smiled.  
"What do you want to know?"  
"Are you a Demi-God too?" I nodded. "Who's your parent?" I reached into my shirt and pulled out my necklace. Percy took it into his hands and smiled. "Apollo, that's why, the sun makes you think of home…" He looked back up at me and started to reach for my glasses. I grabbed his hand.  
"I would not suggest that." I warned.  
"Why do your eyes turn gold? What did Luke mean when he said we could have used them?" I let out a short sigh.  
"My father, Apollo, was known for being very _persuasive_, with both men and women. While being obscenely beautiful helped, it was his eyes. These eyes make anyone who look into them, even the slightest bit, become so attracted to me they would do anything for me. Even die.  
"So, do your half siblings have them too?" He asked. I shook my head.  
"Just me."  
"I wonder why that is." Percy thought allowed.  
"Who knows?" I'm not the oldest or anything like that."  
"Are you the youngest?" Percy asked. I chuckled.  
"With my dad? I highly doubt it. He's a bit of a slut. I have so many siblings I lost track after I met the fiftieth one."  
"Do you think it might be because of your mom?"  
"What makes you say that?"  
"Well she was blind. So maybe your body just picked the only good eye genes." I bit my lip.  
"I never thought about that. Maybe that's why." I felt sadness wash over me as I thought about my mom. She always went on about how she knew, she just _knew_ what my dad looked like, even though she never saw him. She had been walking home from the store one day with eleven year old me in tow, when a bank robber, trying to outrun the cops, came racing down the street. My mom heard the car coming and shoved me out of the way. She was dead before she ever hit the pavement. My glasses had flown off when my mom shoved me and the driver saw them, he was so focused on me that he crashed into a building, killing three more people. I always blamed my dad for my mom's death, and the three people in that building. Maybe if he had stuck around he could have stopped the car or blinded the driver or something, but he didn't care about any of us.  
I snapped back to reality when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Grover. "Yo Percy, you're missing your own party! And Alex, Luke's been asking where you are for an hour! Get him off my back, please." Percy looked at me.  
"Is that the crazy guy from your grandma's house?" Percy teased. "He's a handsome guy, I don't know what you're complaining about." Percy said.  
"Yes Percy, he's beautiful. Let's go find him so you can tell him how you feel." Grover teased. We all stood up and headed towards the party.  
When we got there everyone was bombarding Percy. A bunch of girls ran up to us and were asking Percy and Grover to come hang out with them when I heard my least favorite voice on the planet.  
"Beat it nymphs." Annabeth barked. The girls scattered and Annabeth walked right up to me. "I said beat it."  
"Who died and made you Zeus? You beat it." I said, glaring right back at her.  
"You can't even protect him, you worthless excuse for a Demi-God."  
"You BITCH!" I lunged at her and I felt someone grab me and pin my arm behind my back.  
"Keep your _dog_ on a leash Luke." She snarled.  
"If he weren't here to protect you, I'd rip you to pieces." I growled.  
"Right." She snarled. I began to reach for my glasses, but Luke grabbed my other arm and pinned it behind my back next to the other one.  
"Oh, using your lesbian powers against me? That's noble."  
"So is kicking someone when they're down." I snapped.  
"Alex, let it go." Luke warned.  
"Let go of me, I'm going to take her big mouth and shove it right up her ass." I growled. Annabeth smirked, grabbing Percy and leading him away from me. I pulled away from Luke and spun around. "Why didn't you let me kill her?" I demanded. Luke bit his lip.  
"Because, I'm in charge around here and I say no fighting except on the battlefield. And you would actually kill her."  
"I wouldn't kill her. I'd just chop that dumb smirk off her face." I snarled. "God I hate her. Just let me beat her up, just once."  
"No." Luke said. "Why do you have it out for her so bad?" He asked.  
"Just look at her! She thinks because she's the daughter of Athena that makes her the greatest person ever and better then all of us."  
"Well, Percy was better than her."  
"Why do you think she wants him? If you can't beat them, join them, she wouldn't have given him the time of day before he was the conquering hero."  
"And you would, if you didn't know him?"  
"I would be such a stuck up bitch, that's for sure." I assured him. Before Luke could say another word the fire exploded and a demon came out of the flames. I couldn't hear what he said, but I felt my blood turn cold when I saw what it had in its hand.  
Percy's mom.


	4. Chapter 4

::Percy::  
I stared, gape mouthed, as my mother stood before me. There was no way; I had watched that Minotaur crush her into dust but…  
"Percy." She whispered, I reached out towards her, but then the giant fiery beast took her away with a single slap of his hand. I felt just as alone as I did before, but that loneliness almost instantly became anger as a fire lit inside of me.  
"Where is she?" I growled.  
"If you ever want to see your mother alive again you will bring me to bolt!" The monster cried, the bonfire then exploded, sending me backwards from the sheer intensity of the heat, and the monster was gone. I was fuming as Chiron walked up to me.  
"I have to go get her!" I told him.  
"No, Percy we need to stick to the plan, go to Zeus, reason with him, and then once this crisis is averted we will do everything in our power to bring back your mother." I wanted to tell Chiron to take his dumbass plan and shove it, but I bit my tongue and stormed back to my cabin. I just started to pack for what seemed like forever when I could hear her walk up behind me.  
"You can come out now Alex." I said softly.  
"Percy…" She whispered. I didn't turn as she walked over and stood behind me.  
"Save it. I don't need any of your stupid pity."  
"I'm just trying to-"  
"This is all your and Grover's fault!" I snapped. "If I had never met either of you two she'd still be with me and everything would be like it was supposed to and-" But when I saw Alex's face I stopped, she wasn't even listening to me, she was just looking out onto the lake and walked to the edge of the dock, sitting down with tears streaming down her face. I took in a deep breath, regretting what I said. I remembered Alex being willing to die so my mom could have a chance to escape. She would have laid down her life without the slightest hesitation, and I'd just yelled at her.  
"…You're right." She finally whispered. She turned to me, her eyes rimmed with tears.  
"Alex, I didn't mean-"  
"Yes you did." Alex took in a sharp breath and started to cry. "I wasn't strong enough to save her Percy, this _is_ all my fault. I should have never come back, they should have sent Annabeth to be your protector…not me."  
"Alex." She looked over at me as I kneeled next to her and took her hand in mine. "You saved me from a harpy, you almost died just so my mom could have a chance to escape, everything you've ever done has been to help and protect me. That sounds like a damn good protector to me." Alex just looked at me for a long time before letting out a small sigh.  
"I'm coming with you." She said.  
"Huh?"  
"I know you're going to leave to go get your mom back, I'm coming with you."  
"Alex, I'm not going to-" But it was useless, Alex always knew when I was lying. "You're not coming with me."  
"Percy, I couldn't save her once, don't make me do it again."  
"Alex you're not coming."  
"Why? Why can't I? She's like a mother to me too Percy, she took me in when we both know she didn't have to. I'm coming with you." There was a long pause before I finally sighed and told the truth.  
"I don't want anything to happen to you." I admitted. Alex blushed for a moment, but then got this devilish grin.  
"There's a lot you still don't know about me Percy, I can handle myself, and will probably end up saving your ass once or twice."  
"Oh really, like what?" I challenged. Alex looked around for a while before pointing to a bonfire we could see burning on the other side of the lake.  
"See that bonfire?" She asked.  
"Yeah, what about it?"  
"Just watch." She promised. She closed her eyes and got a look of pure concentration on her face. I looked back to the bonfire and watched as it quadrupled in size, sending over small squeals of surprise from across the lake. I watched, completely captivated as the fire slowly came off the ground and floated out to the middle of the lake, then exploded into fireworks of fire that rained down into the lake and went out. I looked over at Alex, who was just smiling.  
"You can control fire?"  
"Yes, when you think about it, the sun is just a giant orb of fire, right? That was the biggest thing they trained me with while I was here was how to control that."  
"Can you, like, send fireballs at people?" I asked, awestruck.  
"Not yet, for now it's mostly a defense, put up a wall of fire, things like that." She let out a small sigh. "I'm going to have to go sit in the sun for a while after that one." She muttered.  
"Are you solar powered?" I joked. She grinned slightly.  
"Just that, for everything else, no." She looked back at me, I was so tempted to take her glasses off and see her beautiful golden eyes again that I had to sit on my hands. "So, Mr. Jackson, am I now worthy of accompanying you on your quest?" She asked, completely serious. I sighed, as much as I didn't want to see Alex get hurt trying to protect me ever again I knew I needed her, and possibly her eyes, to help me.  
"Fine." I walked over and grabbed my backpack. "Let's go get your things."  
When Alex was packed we were both walking towards the main gate when I heard Grover's voice.  
"Where are you two going?" He asked.  
"For a walk." I lied.  
"Alright, I'm coming with."  
"No you're not." Alex and I replied.  
"Oh yes I am, you're being followed." He teased as he jogged to catch up with us, his backpack already packed. On our way to the gate we passed Annabeth who ran up to me.  
"I'm coming with you." She said. I let out a frustrated sigh.  
"You too? Today you tried to kill me, now you want to help me?" I couldn't help but notice that Alex was seething at the sight of Annabeth, I wonder why?  
"That was training." Annabeth answered. "That's all I've ever done is train and train and train. I've never been able to go on a real quest. Besides, you've won one battle, I've won hundreds, you're going to need my experience."  
"You two really want to come?" Alex asked.  
"YES!" Grover and Annabeth replied. I looked at Alex, who shrugged.  
"Alright, who knows how to get to the Underworld?" Grover asked. We all let out a long sigh.  
"Definitely didn't think of that one…" I admitted. After a long pause Alex sighed.  
"I know someone who can help."  
As we walked into Luke's tent the first thing I heard was machine gun fire. I looked inside and saw Luke playing Call of Duty on a giant screen, when he saw Alex he shot up and turned off the game.  
"Alex what are you- " Then he looked back and saw the rest of us. "Oh."  
"We need to get to the underworld." I said, putting myself between Alex and Luke.  
"Well that's easy enough, Hercules did it, Persephone did it, my dad does it all the time. It's getting out, that's the tricky part." Luke bit his lip and walked over to a box and pulled out a map. "What you need are the pearls." He said.  
"Pearls?"  
I asked.  
"Persephone's pearls." Alex answered, Luke smiled at her.  
"That's right, Persephone loves to have…_visitors_ come over, but they need a quick way out if something should happen, so she leaves her pearls for them all over the world. There are currently four in the U.S."  
"How do they work?" Annabeth asked.  
"Simple, you take the pearl, crush it under your foot, and imagine where you want to be and the pearl will take you there." Luke turned back and grabbed a giant shield and threw it to me. "For protection." He said, smiling. He bit his lip and went back into his closet. Muttering about cleaning up before he emerged with a dusty shoe box. "Here, I stole these from my dad, you'll probably use them more than I will." I looked to see two winged converse trying to fly out of the box before Luke closed it.  
"Won't your dad get mad at you?' I asked. Luke chuckled.  
"He has hundreds of these, he won't miss them, trust me."  
"Thanks Luke."  
"There is one catch, if you see my dad on the highway to Hell, kick his ass for me." I chuckled.  
"Will do." As we turned to leave Luke called Alex back.  
"Hey Alex, can I talk to you for a second?" She looked back at me, then looked at Luke.  
"We're kind of in a hurry…" I interjected.  
"It'll only take a second." Luke promised.  
"I'll meet you at the gate." Alex promised. I nodded and dragged myself away, the farther and farther we got the angrier I felt. Why did Luke think he could just control Alex like that? I thought about earlier when he had grabbed Alex to keep her from lunging at Annabeth, but I had noticed the way he pulled her so closely to him and it had made me furious. I thought about what Alex said about him being crazy. I took a deep breath, I decided to ask Annabeth.  
"Hey Annabeth."  
"Yeah?" She answered.  
"Did Alex and Luke have a thing or something?" Annabeth and Grover just kind of looked at each other.  
"Not that she's told me. Why?" She asked.  
"Curious."I bit my lip and patted my pockets.  
"Guys, I forgot the map in Luke's tent." I lied. Grover sighed.  
"Really man?" He said. "I'll go get it."  
"No, I forgot it, I'll go get it." I had to keep from running at break neck speed back to Luke's tent I had to talk to Alex. But as I got close I stopped, what was I going to tell Luke to get back in? I grabbed the shoes out of my backpack, I would just ask him how to use them. As I opened the curtain, my mouth opening to speak, I stopped.  
Luke had his hands cradling Alex's face, both their eyes closed, locked in a kiss. I felt like I was going to be sick. I backed out of the tent and fell to the ground, why did I feel so betrayed, Alex was just my friend, right?  
She had never made me think she wanted to be anything else, but maybe I was just being an…  
An oblivious idiot.  
Her diary entries popped back into my head. As I heard them moving again I took off back towards the group, there was no way I was going to be able to face her. But why was she doing this to me?  
What was happening to me?


	5. Chapter 5

||alex||

As I watched the others leave me alone with Luke I tried to get a quick glance at Percy, was that anger on his face? Well of course Alex. His mother's just been kidnapped by Hades, you'd be a little pissed too. I let out a long sigh and turned to Luke.  
"So, what's up?" I asked, he just frowned at me.  
"I don't want you to go with them." He said simply.  
"Luke, Percy's mom protected me, she took me in knowing full well the dangers and risks and-"  
"You know that's not why you want to go." He said, cutting me off.  
"How dare you-"  
"It's because you couldn't save her before, and you refuse to fail her, and Percy, again. I know you Alex, more than you think." I couldn't help blush snaking up to my cheeks.  
"I'm going Luke." I said finally.  
"Water boy will be fine. Besides, we still need to train you to use your fire abilities. You're not ready for this kind of quest." He said, walking over to me.  
"Luke, please. I have to do this." I said.  
"No, you don't."  
"Why do you want me to stay here so badly?" I demanded. He swallowed nervously, looking at the ground, then looked back up at me. His eyes were blue too, but nothing could ever compare to the ocean blue of Percy's eyes.  
"I don't want anything to happen to you." He admitted finally.  
I felt my heart begin to speed up. Why me? Why of all the beautiful daughters of Aphrodite or Athena did Luke want me? I was just one of Apollo's hundreds of kids who couldn't even take off my glasses because of this stupid curse my dad gave me.  
"Luke, I-I can handle myself." I said, sounding much more sure than I felt.  
"I don't trust you out of my sight. Every day you were gone I was worried sick about you. When I saw what the Minotaur did to you I…" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I almost couldn't take it." Why was my heart thudding so painfully in my chest? I had dreamed of someone saying this to me but…  
I had dreamt of Percy.  
"Luke I-" I didn't get to say another word before he grabbed my and pulled my lips to his. I was so lost in the dreaminess of the moment that it took me a second to realize what was happening. I pulled away from Luke, my face bright red, he smiled at me. "I should go." I said simply.  
"Alex-"  
"Bye Luke!" I called as I ran out of the tent as fast as I could. What in the Hell was that? I touched my lips softly and felt tears sting my eyes. I had wanted Percy to be my first kiss, and now it was ruined. I ran my hands through my hair and composed myself before jogging to catch up to the others.  
"Hey, what did Luke want?" Annabeth asked, snoopy as always.  
"He just told me to be safe, that's all." I lied. She narrowed her eyes at me, so I turned my attention to Grover. "So, where's our first pearl?" I asked. He tapped the map and letters lit up.  
"Central Park, New York City." He said.  
"Perfect!" I declared, trying to ignore the awkward stares. "I know that place like the back of my hand!"

I apparently did not know the back of my own hand. As we trudged through the same wooded area for what felt like the hundredth time I gave in and finally sat down.  
"The back of your hand huh?" Annabeth snapped.  
"How the Hell should I know where the pearl would be? We've got an insane amount of ground to cover." I admitted.  
"Maybe we should split up." Percy suggested. I looked up. He hadn't really spoken to me since we left, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me why. He wouldn't even really look at me.  
"Cool. Annabeth and I will take north, you two take south." Grover said, and he and Annabeth were gone. Percy sighed and raced off. I had to run to catch up.  
"Hey! What gives?" I asked as I finally caught up to him.  
"Why are you here?" He snapped. I looked into his beautiful, beautiful eyes.  
"Because I want to save your mom." I said. "I already told you that Percy."  
"Really? Are you sure it's not just to look cool for Luke?" He said as he wandered off again.  
"What? I hate Luke, you know that."  
"Sure you do."  
"Percy, what's going on with you?"  
"You know damn well what." He growled.  
"No, I don't! What does me hating Luke have to do with-"  
"You sure didn't hate him the other night when you were sucking face!" He snapped. I stopped and turned bright red. He just shook his head. "I knew it."  
"Percy, you don't understand-"  
"Apparently I don't." He said sarcastically.  
"Fine, then get lost in this stupid forest and STARVE! I'm going the other way!" I snapped and stormed off westward.  
"Good!" I heard him yell. How could he just assume I was lying when he didn't know the whole story? Why was he being such a jerk about it? It's not like we were dating, why was he so angry?  
I was so lost in thought I didn't realize that I was stuck in a thicket of branches until I couldn't move forward anymore.  
"Great." I mumbled. That's when I saw something glimmering. The pearl! It was in a small hole in one of the oak trees, just inches from my grasp. I tried to maneuver my arm around to get it, and when I could just graze it with my fingertips I was off my feet. The next thing I knew I was upside down. I looked up to see what had me as I tried to get the knife I keep in my backpack. Then I saw I was being held up by branches, that was it. "What the Hell?" I was reaching for my backpack when it was slipped off my shoulders. I spun around to see branches holding it away from me. Did I hear laughter? "What's going on?" I demanded.  
"You're trying to steal our treasure." I spun around, no one was here. That's when it hit me. Nymphs.  
Wood nymphs to be precise; I hadn't seen one in the wild, well, ever. "Can you please let me down? I need to talk to you." I pleaded.  
"Talk to us?" Wait, there was more than one?  
"You want to steal our treasure!" A third! This was crazy!  
"Is there anything I can do to convince you I won't steal your treasure?" I asked. I had no idea what they would want. The only things I knew about them was that they didn't like satyrs. Wait satyrs… Grover! If I wanted them to let me go, Grover could probably talk to them. I took in a deep breath and screamed at the top of my lungs.  
"Why did she do that?" One of the nymphs asked.  
"She's calling more of them, what do we do?"  
"Kill her!" The third hollered.  
"GUYS!" I screamed. I had no intentions of becoming plant food.  
"Alex!" Percy was the first one there. "Holy… What are those things?" He asked.  
"Wood nymphs; get Grover! Hurry!" I said.  
"Alex!" Grover was almost here, thank Zeus. As he rounded the corner the nymphs all screamed and dropped me. I landed on something soft that groaned. I sat up to see Percy.  
"Sorry." I said, helping him to his feet.  
"Eye for an eye right?" He asked, referring to when I caught him at the museum.  
"Sounds good to me." I said, smiling. Maybe now that he got that whole Luke thing off his chest we could get back to normal.  
"Wait, are these..?" Grover turned to me, smiling devilishly.  
"Yep, Wood nymphs. And they don't want to give us the pearl Grover, what are we going to do?" I joked. Satyrs are knows to be quite…determined in getting what they wanted when it came to wood nymphs.  
"Oh I've got this." He said grinning from ear to ear. He turned his attention to the three trees. "Oh ladies! Come out and let me see your lovely faces." He cooed.  
"No! Get out of our forest!" The trees bellowed.  
"Well, you see, either you give us that pearl or there will be a party in the forest tonight!" The first tree sighed, and then the most beautiful things happened. In a moment the tree spun and shrunk, turning into a human like figure with cascading hair and a leaf dress, the pearl pressed into where her collar bone would be. The other two trees followed suit and were soon standing before us, hauntingly beautiful.  
"I am Oak; these are my sisters Maple and Birch." Oak was tall and elegant looking, with bright eyes and dark brown hair that scraped along the grass as she walked towards us. Birch was tall, with a flat nose and light brown hair, Maple had small, narrowed eyes and flaming red hair. I suspected she was the one who'd suggested killing me as she stared at us with disgust. "We don't want any trouble." Oak continued.  
"You've already killed half of our sisters!" Maple snapped. Oh yeah, that was the one who wanted me dead.  
"We're lucky to have this haven." Birch said sadly. "Many of us were not as fortunate."  
"Look, we just need the pearl and we'll leave." Percy said, obviously not wanting to hear the "save the earth" talk. Oak's hand flew defensively to the pearl.  
"This pearl was a gift from Persephone herself!" Oak cried. "She said it looked good with my eyes."  
"Well we need it-" Percy looked like he was going to lose it, so I stepped in front of him and looked at the three trees…girls…nymphs.  
"Look, Percy's mother has been kidnapped by Hades, just like Persephone, and we need that pearl to get her back." Oak looked sympathetic, but Maple growled at me.  
"Why does that concern us? All you people want is more and more and more! It never ends!" I took a deep breath.  
"When I was little my mom was killed in a car accident, Percy's mom took me in, even though she didn't have to. Please, let me repay my debt to her." Oak looked at me for a long time.  
"You're a demi god, aren't you?"  
"We all three are." Annabeth chimed in. "All of us except Grover."  
"Ooh! Let us guess! Please? We never see demi Gods!" Birch begged. Then the light bulb went off.  
"Alright, we'll let you guess, if you get all three right, we'll go. If not, we get the pearl. Deal?" I asked.  
"Yes!" Birch hollered before the others could say no. Oak sighed and pointed at Percy.  
"Poseidon." He winced.  
"What gave it away?" He asked.  
"Your eyes. You have the same exact eyes as him." Oak turned to Annabeth and bit her lip. "Athena." She said finally. Annabeth sighed.  
"Yes. How-"  
"Your sour expression, completely gives it away." I held in a chuckle as Oak finally turned to me. She turned to Maple, hearing what she thought, then Birch, whispering excitedly into her ear. Oak looked at me for another long stretch before she let out a long sigh. "Hermes." A smile enveloped my face.  
"Nope. Sorry ladies." Grover said, smiling. "Now, the pearl if you don't mind-" Grover began to reach towards Oak, but Maple smacked his hand away.  
"They're lying!" She screeched. "Oak is never wrong!" I sighed.  
"Percy, Annabeth, don't look."  
"Wh-" Percy started, but then realized what I was going to do and covered his eyes. Annabeth followed suit as I slipped off my glasses and looked at the three of them. They all just stared.  
"Apollo? That's not possible. None of his children look like…well…_you_." Birch said. I pressed my lips together as I slid my glasses back on. It was true, all my half siblings were beautiful; most who lived in the human world were famous; move stars, models, singers. The only thing connecting them was their inhumanly good looks.  
"You two can look now." I said. Percy and Annabeth opened their eyes, Annabeth drawing her bow.  
"Now give us the pearl." She snapped. God she really needed to check her temper. Birch looked like she was going to cry as Oak lifted the pearl out of her collarbone and set it gently in my hand. I felt bad for her, but then got an idea. I picked my backpack off the ground and pulled out a sliver dollar I had in my wallet and handed it to Oak. She smiled and pressed it into her wood...skin... whatever the Hell it was.  
"Thank you, and good luck." She whispered as the three of them stepped back and morphed back into trees. I just stood there for a moment, looking at how beautiful they were. Nymphs were so rare now that to be able to see three was an incredible gift.  
"Alex!" I turned to see Annabeth. "Hurry up." She barked. I rolled my eyes and turned to leave, stopping and looking at the three trees once again, and smiling when I saw the silver dollar glint in the moonlight.  
"So, we heard you two have a little lovers spat." Grover teased, gently shoving Percy.  
"Please. It was not a lover's anything."  
"Well whatever it was I'm sure half of New York heard it." Annabeth said angrily. "You two need to watch it. We're trying to stay under the radar and the last thing we need is someone calling the cops." How could Percy not see what a bitch she was? As she stormed off in front of us, Grover hung back with me where Percy and Annabeth couldn't hear.  
"So, what were you two arguing about?"  
"Nothing." I said blankly, but I could feel my face get warm.  
"Alex, don't lie to me girl. I can tell when you're lying, and you're lying." I ran my hand through my hair. "Does it have anything to do with Luke?" I blushed even more, remembering what Luke had said about not wanting me to get hurt. Grover, of course, completely misread this. "Ooh, is Percy jealous of how much Luke likes you?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about." I lied.  
"Alex." Grover said. "It's me, my lips are sealed." I let out a long sigh.  
"When Luke said he wanted to talk to me, he said he didn't want me to go with you because he didn't want anything to happen to me. Then he-"  
"He what?" Grover asked, clearly a little put out. He didn't trust Luke as far as he could throw him. He was convinced he was always up to something.  
"He kissed me." I mumbled.  
"WHAT?" Grover hollered. I shrunk back from his obvious fury as birds flew out of the trees, running for their lives. Annabeth and Percy stopped and turned around, both looking more than a little confused. "Sorry guys, Alex said one of the nymphs wanted my number and Alex here didn't say anything to me." He lied, smiling. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but Percy just chuckled, both turning to keep walking. "Why is Percy so pissed?" He asked.  
"He must have seen us, because he knew and he was so angry and…" I took in a deep breath. "I think he's just stressed." I looked over at Grover, who was beaming.  
"He's jealous." He said simply. I chuckled.  
"No, he's not. You heard what the nymphs said, most of my dad's kids don't look…like me." I finished sadly.  
"Forget the nymphs! He's jealous and that's all there is to it." He promised. I shook my head as we finally got out of the woods to the clearer area of Central Park where we could see. Percy pulled out and map and tapped it.  
"Okay, where to next?"

Authors Note: Yes, I know that there are not wood nymphs in Central Park in the movie. But it seemed really lame and lazy on my part to just put two pearls in the same place, so viola,

Wood nymphs.

Xoxo

TMG


End file.
